Interictal heart rate patterns in partial seizure disorders
Frysinger RC, Engel J, and Harper RM (1993) Interictal heart rate patterns in partial seizure disorders. Neurology 43:10 2136–9.
Abstract: Epileptogenic mesial temporal damage may alter interictal autonomic patterning. Analysis of heart rate variability in 19 patients with complex partial seizures revealed cases of persistent, high-amplitude, 4 to 9 per minute fluctuations in heart rate during alert waking. This pattern was most pronounced in poor candidates for anterior temporal lobe resection (2/19). The 4 to 9 per minute heart-rate variability pattern may emerge following diffuse, extratemporal, or bilateral mesial temporal damage, which interferes with descending forebrain influences on cardiovascular regulation.
Context
- Assessment of heart rate variability in patients with temporal lobe epilepsy that identified periods of fluctuation in heart rate during waking that lasted 4 to 9 minutes.